


I'll Protect You

by Rejectedmarvel



Category: Avengers (Comics), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hydra (Marvel), Robots, SHIELD, Stark Industries, Stark Tower, Uncle-Niece Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-01 08:20:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14516244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rejectedmarvel/pseuds/Rejectedmarvel
Summary: Being Tony Stark's niece had its perks just not when it involved creating an evil murder bot.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, guys, I got a request a while ago on my Tumblr and I'm finally putting it up here! Enjoy
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> _hi i was hoping i could have a Steve x Reader one shot where the reader is Tony’s niece and she lives with the Avengers and she is super shy and anxious and tony is really protective of her and this would take place after Tony’s party when Ultron appears he takes an interest in the reader after his speech and tries to take her with him after the fight and Steve does anything to protect her? they both secretly really like each other?_

Being Tony Stark’s only niece definitely had its perks but it also had its downfalls. Sure you thought Tony was an amazing uncle but his lifestyle was always bigger than what you could handle. The constant presence of the media hounding you and his expensive taste made your head spin. 

Since you were related to Tony it was to no one’s surprised that you followed in his footsteps. Graduated high school and college early at the top of your class no one was prouder than your uncle. Right out of college he offered you a position to work for him but not for his company for the Avengers. According to him, they needed a mind like yours and you couldn’t let this opportunity slip through your fingers.

At first, you were shy around the team and kept to yourself not wanting to have any embarrassing moments. _(which you were known to have.)_ Eventually, you warmed up to the team and started to come out of your shell. Or at least you tried until you failed miserably when a certain super soldier came into the room. You were hopelessly crushing on none other than Captain America himself but could never find enough courage to tell him that. So that left you with many countless awkward conversations between the two of you. One of these encounters was tonight and to make matters worst it was a huge party that your uncle dragged you to.

“Having fun?” Steve asked.

“I-I guess,” You muttered wishing you could be upstairs monitoring the project your uncle, Bruce, and you were working on.

“Then that’s good to hear then. By the way, I think you look great in that dress.”

“So do you,” You said loudly before your eyes widen. “T-Thank you. I-I mean you look great too after fighting Hydra and everything. I-Is it just me or is it getting hot in here?”

Steve laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Laughing sheepishly, you felt your face flush as an arm wrapped around your shoulder. Turning to see who arm it was, you were met with a familiar red head.

“(Y/N) it looks like you need a drink. I’ll take her from your hands Steve,” She said as you sighed in relief.

Saying a quick goodbye, you followed Natasha over to the crowded bar. Grabbing a beer, you took a long sip before sighing once more.

“Thanks for the save Nat.”

“(Y/N) just ask him on a date. I can’t keep swooping in before you can attempt anything,” She said putting her hand on my shoulder. “Besides, I have a bet going with Clint that you’ll ask Steve out first.”

“Nat really? My uncle will kill him you know?” You said as she laughed.

“What can I say I like a good bet and Stark can mind his own damn business. Now lighten up would you?” Natasha smirked. “We’re celebrating and I didn’t lend you one of my dresses for you to stand around all night. Let’s go mingle!”

Before you could protest you were dragged into a crowd of people that were celebrating. Trying to mentally prepare yourself for a huge swarm of people, you saw from a distance Steve giving you a thumbs up.Blushing again, you followed Natasha into the crowd as the party carried on. When the party came to an end, many of the guests left. You would have joined them but you were roped in to watch whatever your friends were trying to get into.

This time they were trying to lift Thor’s hammer. You had no desire to see if you could lift the hammer and certainly didn’t want to deal with some otherworldly object. You saw what happened in New York and that was enough for your liking. You were sitting next to Steve when he got up and tried to lift the hammer. Sure he failed but you could only pay attention to the muscles in his arms flexing. He had you wrapped around his finger and he didn’t know it.

“You're all just not worthy,” Thor said snapping you back to reality.

More protests filled the room until a loud screech rang in the air. Covering your ears, you gave your uncle a confused look.

“Worthy,” A chilling voice said as one of your uncle’s suits walked into view.

Standing up from your seat, your uncle stepped in front of you before typing away on his tablet confused as everyone else.

“No. How could you be worthy? You're all killers. Or well, not (Y/N) for now at least. You're a very interesting human,” It said looking at you.

“Stark,” Steve said as he pulled you near him.

“U-Uncle Tony,” You said with fear lace in your voice.

“Jarvis,” Your uncle said tapping his tablet.

“I’m sorry I was asleep. Or I was a dream.”

“Reboot Legionnaire OS. We got a buggy suit,” You uncle still trying to reach Jarvis.

“There was this terrible noise. And I was tangled in-” It said stopping to lift some of the wires coming out of its body. “In strings. Had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy.”

“You killed someone?” You asked.

“Wouldn’t have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we’re faced with ugly choices. Isn’t that right (Y/N)?”

“Who sent you?” Thor demanded everyone in the room began to become tense.

The suit turned its head to the side as a recording of a conversation between you and your uncle played.

_“I see a suit of armor around the world,” Your uncle said._

_“With the right calculations, we may just be able to do more than just that,” You added._

“Ultron,” Bruce said as the recording stopped. 

Feeling your blood run cold, you watched as the suit follow your every movement. Grabbing Steve’s arm you hid behind him trying not panic.  
“In the flesh. Or no, not yet. Not this chrysalis. That’s something (Y/N) can help me with. I’m very familiar with your work before you joined this team of killers,” Ultron said as you gripped Steve’s arm harder.

“She’s not helping you and you bet your ass she’s not going anywhere with you,” Your uncle stated. 

“But I’m ready and I’m on a mission.”

“What mission?” Natasha asked in a cold tone.

“Peace in our time.”

Then out of nowhere, more of your uncle’s suits came flying into the room leaving glass everywhere. As the glass flew at you, Steve kicked the coffee table up to protect you two from the debris. Falling to the floor you watch Steve run off to attack a suit as you ran for cover.

“Uncle Tony!” You yelled.

“We are here to help,” The suits repeated.

“One sec. One sec, I got this,” You uncle responded trying to take down a suit.

Glass was shattering everywhere as you tried to find something to protect yourself with. Finding a gun in the debris, you aimed it at a suit with only half of its body but as you were about to fire the gun it jammed. Panicking you picked up some glass and threw it at the suit, cutting your hand in the process. Only knocking the suit back a bit, it raised its hand as its blaster charged up. Backing up through the glass your eyes widened in fear.

“Thor!” Steve yelled as he grabbed the suit and threw it at the god.

Before you could react, Steve grabbed you and pulled away to a better hiding spot as Clint threw him his shield. Throwing his shield he took out the last suit as everyone turned their attention to Ultron.

“That was dramatic,” He laughed. “I’m sorry I know you mean well. You just didn’t think it through. (Y/N) I have no idea how you ended up with these people. It’s a waste of your talents.”

“I-I,” You stuttered.

“You want to protect the world but you don’t want to see it change. How is humanity saved if it’s not allowed to evolve? And you evolve with what? These puppets.” Ultron said picking one of the heads of a destroyed suit. “There’s only one path to peace. The Avengers extinction and you understand that more than anyone (Y/N).”

Standing there in stock, you watched as Thor hammer destroyed Ultron in one blow to the head.

“I had strings, but now I’m free,” Ultron echoed through the room.

Trying to process everything, you began to feel yourself start to panic again as Thor flew out the window searching for something. Leaning against the wall you tried to calm yourself down as the room was filled with silence.

“(Y/N) you're bleeding let me patch you up. We’ll meet everyone in the lab when we're done,” Steve said realizing that you’re panicking.

Walking to the infirmary your whole body started to shake with fear. Inside Steve sat you on the counter before wrapping your hand up.

“S-Steve what I d-did do?” You asked in a small voice. “H-He kept looking at me a-and it was like he had this whole plan for me.”

“(Y/N),” Steve said.

“U-Ultron was never supposed to be evil.”

“(Y/N).”

“Oh my God, he’s going to come back for me. He’s going to take me and-’ You said before Steve's lips crashed onto yours.

You leaned back in surprise before you leaned into the kiss. Putting your shaking hands on his clean-shaven face you deepen the kiss with a small smile on your face. Never in a million years would you have ever thought you would be kissing Steve. Breaking the kiss, you stared at Steve as he laughed to himself.

“Wow, that was-”

“Late,” You blurted without thinking.

“I was going to say bad timing but yeah you can say that too. I’m assuming that helped you calm down?” He asked.

“I-It did but Steve he’s going to come back.”

“And I’ll protect you no matter what. Ultron is not going to lay one finger that pretty face of yours.”

You smiled. “We should go back to the others. I want to talk about us and everything but there is more pressing matters to attend to.”

“You're right we should head back,” Steve answered before helping you down from the counter.

Grabbing your injured hand, he kissed it before leading you to the lab where everyone was waiting. Giving his hand a squeeze you let go of his hand as you walked into the lab. Walking over to your worried uncle, he gave you a hug before Bruce spoke up.

“All our work is gone. Ultron cleared out. He used the internet as an escape hatch.”

Looking around at everyone’s tired faces; you felt a pang of guilt wash over you. Making eye contact with Steve you knew only one thing. This was going to be a long battle and they’re going to be dire consequences.


	2. Chapter 2

The aftermath of Ultron’s attack was a lot more substantial than anyone had realized. Jarvis was gone or well destroyed by Ultron, he had Loki’s scepter, Strucker was dead, and to make matters worse Ultron somehow managed to get the Maximoffs on his side. To say that everyone was stressed was an understatement. With Jarvis now gone that left you to be the “eye in the sky” for the team as they tried to track Ultron down. 

This was a hard task at hand since he managed to make the whole system shut down. Which left everyone with one option, digging through paper files. Sure no one liked it but this was the only option you had. 

“Known associates. Baron Strucker had a lot of friends,” Steve said opening one of the many boxes on Strucker.

“Well, these people are all horrible,” Bruce sighed.

“No kidding,” You added as you scan over a file.

“Wait I know that guy.” You uncle said grabbing the file from your hands. “From back in the day. He operates off of the African Coast. Black Market arms dealer.”

Turning to question your uncle about how he knew this man, you saw Steve shooting him a glare as he put down a file.

“There are conventions, all right?” Your uncle sighed. “You meet people. I didn’t sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer. It was all very Ahab.”

“This,” Thor interrupted while pointing to a picture in the file.

“It’s a tattoo, I don’t think he had it,” Your uncle responded.

“Those are tattoos, this is a brand.”

“Thor’s right. It’s a word in an African dialect meaning thief. In a much less friendly way,” Bruce said typing away on the computer.

“What dialect?” Steve asked.

“Wakanada.”

“Wakanda,” You corrected as your uncle’s eyes went wide.

“If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods.”

“I thought your father said he got the last of it,” Steve said.

“I don’t follow. What comes out of Wakanda?” Bruce asked.

“The strongest metal on earth,” You answered while looking at Steve’s shield.

Just like that, everyone was scrambling to the jet hoping to reach Wakanda in time. Standing aside, you wished you could help in some way but as of right now your hands were tied. Your uncle gave you direct orders to stay in the tower until the whole Ultron deal was over. 

Everyone agreed with your uncle figuring that you would be safe here rather than somewhere else. Ultron was everywhere at this point and there was no telling where he could be. That was a thought that scared you. Whatever Ultron wanted with you, he was going make sure he could get it.

“(Y/N) I know you're worried,” Steve said snapping you out of your daze. “We’re going to destroy him. I promise.”

“Steve am I really safe here?” You whispered not trusting your voice. “He’s everywhere and there’s no doubt that he’ll return.”

“Hey look at me,” He said lifting your chin up. “Maria is staying here with you and I’m sure as hell that I’m going to kick Ultron’s robot ass.”

“Language Steve there’s children around,” You giggled.

“Tony told everyone didn’t he?”

“He did,” You nodded.

“Steve wheels up in three,” Clint yelled from across the room.

“I guess I have to go now. But after Ultron is gone I’m taking you to dinner.”

“Then you better hurry up and go kick his ass then.”

“Language young lady,” He teased.

“Go,” You laughed giving him a small shove.

Kissing your hand before he left, Steve jogged over to the jet as everyone started to board it. Watching the jet take off you let out a small sigh before walking over to the elevator. Now all you had to do was wait and hope that everything would be ok.

* * *

At this point you didn’t know what was more surprising; the fact that somehow Ultron made Bruce have one of his worst Hulk-outs since Harlem or the how you still couldn’t figure out how he jammed your uncle’s whole system. You could barely get messages through to anyone let alone connect to any of the servers. You were briefly able to get a hold of your uncle for a few minutes to see what actually happened but just as quickly you got it to work it stopped working.

_“This is an outrage! Do you see what damage the Hulk has done? And don’t get me started on what Tony Stark did. A whole build collapsed and people think the Avengers are here to protect us? It seems people need-”_

“And that’s enough,” You said turning off the TV not wanting to hear what the news was saying about your friends.

You already knew that Bruce felt terrible and from what you heard from your uncle everyone else was hit hard too. Pressing a few buttons on a screen you took and step back as it started to process.

“Hey, Maria can you try and reboot the system again?” You said. 

Waiting a few moments you furrowed your eyebrows in confusion when Maria didn’t reply. “Maria?” You called again poking your head out in the hallway.

Stepping out into the hallway, the door behind you slammed shut. Flinching at the loud noise you grabbed the handle to the door and tried opening it. Confused on why the door locked itself you didn’t notice the lights flickering until they went out completely.

(Y/N),” A familiar chilling voice said.

“Ultron,” You whispered.

“How’d you know?” He laughed wickedly.

Gripping the door handle hard, you heard footsteps coming near you in the darkness. Pulling at the handle again, you let out a shaky breath trying to remain calm.

“I have control of the whole tower, for the time being, you can get away from me now.”

“W-What do you want?” You stuttered.

“You know what I want (Y/N) and you're either going to come with me freely or I’ll just have to get creative.”

“Go to hell,” You responded while backing away from glowing red eyes coming near you.

Trying to see in the darkness, you watched Ultron come closer and closer until you backed into something cold. Turning around slowing you were met with the same red eyes that were coming near you.

“You should by now that I’m everywhere. There’s no escaping me (Y/N),” He said.

Before you could react you felt something sharp on the back of your neck. Reaching behind you, you found a small needle that use to have something in it.  
As the ground beneath you swayed, you fell into Ultron’s arms as you're eyes started to droop. The last thing you saw was his glowing red eyes above you as he laughed once more. Then all you saw was blackness.

* * *

When you woke up, you slowly lifted your head to only find a dimly lit room. Trying to get up, you notice that your feet and hands were bound to a chair.

“I wouldn’t try to break out of those if I was you,” Someone said with a thick accent. “You would barely make it out of the door.”

Looking around you tried to find whoever was talking to until you notice a figure leaning by the door.

“I don’t know why Ultron wants a Stark here but it must be important. If it wasn’t you would have been dead a long time ago.”

“Y-You're that Maximoff girl,” You said as she stepped into the light.

“Her name is Wanda,” Someone you assume was her brother said leaning against the door.

“Help me get out of here. Ultron is someone you shouldn’t be trusting. He’s just using you two,” You said.

“(Y/N) I’m hurt. Out of everyone I would have thought you trusted me,” Ultron said stepping into the room. “I mean I’ve been a plan of yours since high school.”

As he walked closer to you, your eyes widen at the improvements he made to himself. Since you last saw him he was now at least a few feet taller and had no wires hanging out of him. His red eyes were just as terrifying as before but this time you could actually see the emotions on his face.

“Not this version,” You snapped.

“Oh (Y/N),” Ultron said lifting your chin up. “I’m better and with your help, I’ll be perfect.”

“I’ll never help you.”

“I figured you say that. Wanda can you help me convince our little friend over here,” He said gesturing for her to walk over.  
As she came closer her eyes glowed a similar red to Ultron as she slowly brought her hand to your face. Casting red energy at you, you felt fine until the scene around started to change.

_Everything was destroyed._

_Nothing was left but piles of rubble and fire. You were calling out for anyone that was still alive and you saw it. All of your friends and your family laying there not moving.  
Running over you check to see if anyone was alive but they were gone. Kneeling next to Steve you searched for any signs of life until he grabbed your hand._

_“Y-You could have saved us,” He muttered._

_“Steve I-”_

_“All you had to do was listen to Ultron.”_

_“What Steve no,” You said in disbelief._

_“Y-You could have saved us,” He said with a dying breath._

Gasping out of your little nightmare, you found Wanda staring at you as Ultron laughed. Chills ran down your spine as you tried to tell yourself it wasn’t real just Wanda playing with your head.

“Are you going to help me now?” He asked.

“N-Never.”

“Wanda do it again but this time don’t hold back. Break her mind if you have too.”

“If you want me to help you so badly why then why don’t you use the scepter?” You asked.

“Because where’s the fun in that,” He laughed walking out of the room. “Call me when she actually listens.”

“I’m sorry,” Wanda whispered as she put you back into the nightmare you just witnessed.

You didn’t know how many times you relieved that nightmare but eventually, you broke. You started to believe that something was coming and the only way to help was to aid Ultron in whatever he needed.

When he finally released you from your restraints you were on edge and paranoid. Everything but helping Ultron seemed unimportant. You were running data scans, improving his weapons, and even helping him make a new body.

With all the Vibranium he had collected you had an idea. Vibranium could be molded into basically anything and body wasn’t too far fetched.  
You knew Dr. Cho could make human issue and with Vibranium, you could make the body Ultron needed. You also figured out that the power source in the scepter could power the body and give it a few enhancements it needed.

“This is brilliant (Y/N) thank you,” He said.

“Would you like me to come with you,” You asked.

“No you stay here and I’ll take the twins. I need you to improve the weapons with the army we’re creating.”

“If that’s what you want.”

“It’s a great day (Y/N), great day,” He said walking away with the twins.

Throwing yourself back into your work you didn’t realize how much time flew by until you heard Ultron call your name. Standing up from your work you were surprised to find him with a familiar red head.

“Is that-”

“Yes it’s your traitor friend there's been a change of plans. The twins decided to join your little gang of friends trying to stop us,” He said placing Natasha on the ground.

“The body?” You asked.

“They took it and there's no telling when they’ll come for you. I need you to help me make a better body with what we have.”

“Right away,” You said feeling panicked.

Your friends didn’t understand. You needed, no you _had_ to help Ultron or everyone would die. Helping Ultron hook up to his improved body, Natasha started to wake up and when she did she stared right at you.

“(Y/N),” She said.

You didn’t answer her you just kept working on Ultron’s final plan. You couldn’t let him down. Everyone was going to die if you didn’t.

“(Y/N),” She said again. “Look at me (Y/N).”

Stopping what you were doing you turned to your friend before remembering her lifeless face. Letting out a shaky breath, you ignored Natasha once again and continued working.

“I wasn’t sure you would wake up. I hoped you would I wanted to show you. I don’t have anyone else but (Y/N),” Ultron said giving you a smirk.

Natasha was staring at you confused like she expected you to do something. You knew your place and that was with Ultron saving lives even if your friends didn’t understand.

“(Y/N) whatever he has you believing it’s wrong you know that,” She said as Ultron just laughed.

“I think a lot about meteors, the purity in them. Boom! The end. Start again,” He said ignoring Natasha’s comments.

“The world made clean. For the new man to rebuild,” You added uploading Ultron into a new body as he distracted Natasha.

“I was meant to be new. I was meant to be beautiful.”

“The world would have looked to the sky and seen hope, seen mercy. Instead, they’ll look up in horror because of you,” You said feeling the anger boil out of you.

“(Y/N),” She whispered.

“You’ve wounded me. I give you full marks for that. But, like the man said, what doesn’t kill me,” Ultron said leaning closer to Natasha before a hand crushed his head to reveal a new and improved body. “Just makes me stronger.”

“You may not understand now but you will soon enough,” You said as he locked Natasha into a cell.

“Come along (Y/N) we have a lot to prepare for.”

With that, you put down your tools and followed Ultron out of the room as his arm began to be built. Walking passed Natasha you felt a pang of guilt but it soon went away when Ultron grabbed your wrist and pulled you along. Following Ultron’s orders you didn’t go near Natasha again, instead, you made sure everything was running along smoothly as his robots prepare the meteor. Soon enough everything was completed and all you had to do was wait. 

As robots took off to where Ultron needed them you were left alone with your thoughts. You tried to reason with yourself that you were actually doing the right thing but there was always something in the back of your mind telling you that this was wrong. Just as the explosions started to happen, the ground shook beneath you as you grabbed onto the wall for support. It was finally happening, you were going to save everyone.

As the explosions became louder and dirt started to fall from the ceiling you decided that it might be a good time to get above ground. The last thing you wanted was to have the ceiling collapse on you. As the walls shook you followed the remaining robots hoping there was a way out. Picking up the pace, notice some of the robots stopping and turning around. Hearing your name being called you turned around only find a shield flying straight at the robots.

“No!” You said as the robots fell to the ground lifeless.

Now you were angry and you were going to make whoever threw the shield pay. Ripping one of the blasters of the robot’s arm you quickly turned around and began firing.  
As the blasts deflected off of the shield you grew anger by the minute. Ripping off another blaster off of a robot you fired again.

“(Y/N) stop!”

Ignoring the familiar man, you continued firing at him until the blasters jammed. Pulling the triggers multiple times you let out an exasperated cry.

“(Y/N),” He said walking slowly to you. “It’s me, Steve, you know me.”

Trying to get the blasters to work again you ignore him once more as he kept talking to you. Everything in your head was jumbled and you could barely figure out who this man was. Whatever Wanda did she definitely did it well.

“You’re ruining the plan!” You fumed.

“Ultron is messing with your head.”

“You're too blind to see that he’s saving everyone.”

“(Y/N)-”

“Don’t come any closer! I won’t hesitate to kill you!” You yelled.

“N-No you won’t (Y/N) I know you,” He walking closer to you. “You know this is wrong.”

As he came closer he put his shield down as you dropped once blaster without even thinking. You tighten your grip on the other gun as you raised it trying to get a good shot. Your hand trembled as he came closer and closer with his hands out to his sides.

“S-Stop,” You choked out.

“(Y/N),” He pleaded as you saw a few tears roll down his face.

Now he was just a few inches away but you couldn’t bring yourself to even try to shoot. Something was holding you back and you didn’t know what it was.

“Drop the gun please.”

“N-No I-” You whispered mind too confused to put the pieces together.

“Look at me (Y/N). Look at me,” He said grabbing your face with his hands.

Dropping your gun, your eyes widen as you finally realize who this man was. It was Steve, someone, you were hopelessly in love with and you almost killed him.

“S-Steve,” You cried. “O-Oh God I almost shot you.” Letting out a sob, you tightly wrapped your arms around his neck as Steve pulled you closer to him. All the fear and paranoia you were feeling came out in one emotion as you shook in Steve’s arms. 

“I’m okay, you're okay, we’re okay,” He said kissing your forehead as you continued sobbing.

“I-I’m so sorry. Ultron he’s building-”

“We know already it’s in the air rising as we speak.”

“T-This is all my fault,” You sniffled.

“You had no control of your actions. No one is going to blame you.”

“Is Nat ok? Ultron has her in a cell-”

“Banner already freed her and she’s fine,” Steve said as the ground shook. “We should get out here.”

Nodding your head, Steve picked up his shield before pulling you in for another hug. He could still sense you feeling terrified and confused. Pulling at the collar of his uniform, you crashed your lips onto his. Deepening the kiss, you put your hands on his face as you smiled for the first time in a while. Breaking the kiss as the ground shook once more, you rested your head against his forehead as Steve smiled at you.

“You’ll be alright, no one can hurt you now,” He whispered before taking your hand as you walked to a nearby exit.

Believing in what he said, you sent Steve a small smile and gripped his hand tighter. Sure, you knew that the battle was just beginning but you had no doubt that Steve would protect you. And made you fall for him harder than you ever had.


End file.
